


The Same Promise

by SirenCall



Category: All For the Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Foxes, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-28 16:32:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6336283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirenCall/pseuds/SirenCall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A variation on the Hotel Scene from TKM.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Same Promise

**Author's Note:**

> Written for this prompt given to on my tumblr:
> 
> "Could you write an andreil fic where Neil decided to go into witness protection and the Andrew and the foxes have to convince him otherwise?"

Nathaniel woke to the sound of angry voices. His heart hammered in his chest and when he tried to jump out of bed, he winced in pain as he jerked his right wrist against the handcuff trapping him. He sat there breathing heavily, eyes closed tightly and listened to the noise going on outside his door. The pain dulled and he realized he recognized some of the voices. One was Browning for sure, sounding exasperated and the loudest of the others sounded stubborn and ready for a fight. A raspy female voice that could only be Dan. Nathaniel straightened, perked his ears up and started recognizing the other voices. He could here Nicky exclaiming something about ‘unfair!’ and Allison swearing up a storm and Matt’s booming voice saying something about ‘team’ and ‘you can’t-‘ and ‘we have a right-‘ and that was all he could take really. He’d been asking to see his team, his friends one last time and now that his last wish was granted he wasn’t going to waste the little time he had left on protocol. He cleared his throat and called out, “I’m awake!”

The voices cut out as quickly as if he’d pressed mute on the world. He waited ten seconds or ten minutes or ten years before there was a crash and yelling. His door flew open with a bang and then there was Dan, right in front him. She was followed closely by Towns who was followed by Nicky who was followed by Allison. There was a commotion in the hall but Nathaniel could only focused on his Captain and teammates. Dan’s face was full of shock, a hand covering her mouth as if to hold down a scream but her eyes held the same fierceness they always did on the court; the look she tossed at other players being too rough with her foxes. At a soft gasp, he turned towards Nicky but didn’t linger on his eyes welling up with tears and trembling lip. He moved his sight to Allison and was relieved to see the same ferocious glare she often wore but for once, it didn’t feel like it was directed towards him. At this point Browning decided to join the party as well, looking rumpled and slightly shiny in the face.

“We told you, one at a time. I already have half of you in handcuffs out there,” he jerked his thumb angrily over his shoulder, “I have no problem placing them on the rest of you.”

Nathaniel’s anger flared, he folded his arms as carefully as he could and fixed Browning with glacial stare.

“I said I wanted to see my team, so I see them all together or you throw me in that cell you’ve been raving about.”

“What? Cell? You can’t-“but Dan was cut off by Browning’s raised hand.

“Fine. I’ve had enough of this lot. 20 minutes, that’s it Wesninski.” With that he stormed off into the hall, Town close on his heels.

Dan wasted no time coming up to his bed while Nicky scrambled to his other side. Allison lingered by the foot, either unwilling to get closer or leaving space for the others who were rushing into the room. Nathaniel studied each face as his friends surrounded him, feeling both comforted by their familiarity and nauseous at the varying degrees of horror. Abby was gently nudging Nicky over to take a look at he injuries, when he noticed two missing foxes.

“Where’s Andrew?” he asked, anxiety creeping up his spine. Browning said they all had minor injuries. He was taking stock as they all filed in but what if...

“He and Coach are still down at the police station. They should be here any minute.” Renee informed him. Grateful to look at someone who wasn’t distraught over his appearance, he directed his question towards her.

“I thought you were done being questioned yesterday?”

“We were but Andrew had a bit of a disagreement with one of the agents. He spent the night in jail and Coach stayed behind to wait for him.”

Nicky gave an involuntary snort and Nathaniel turned to him with narrowed his eyes. He folded like a cheap deck cards and confessed, “He might have punched that agent. But they aren’t arresting him! Coach convinced them he had acted out because of the ‘stressful situation’. They threw him in a cell to cool off. Don’t think he’ll be too happy they let us see you without him though.”

At that comment, the team seemed to take a collective step back. They all stood there quietly as Nathaniel contemplated calling Browning out about having THE WHOLE TEAM there or if he should start telling them everything now, when there was a shout in the hall. This time when the door slammed open it seemed to shake the entire room. The foxes on either side of his bed quickly retreated to the end of it with the rest of the team as Andrew stormed right up to him, breathing harshly and hands grasping at the railing. Nathaniel glanced at Wymack in the doorway, blocking off the agents and holding his ground. His gaze jumped back to Andrew’s face, studied him as he allowed himself to be studied. After a minute, there was a quite click and he noticed Andrew was pushing down the railing and climbing onto the bed.

Nathaniel scrambled into a siting position and in his haste, pulled on the handcuff again. Andrew paused than settled down before snapping his fingers once and holding out his open palm. To his surprise, Allison came forward and dropped a hairpin in his hand. She retreated and Andrew set to work freeing his wrist.

“Christ, Neil” Wymack’s voice broke into the silence surrounding them. A glance around the room showed they were finally all together and alone. This was it, this was the last time he’d be seeing them. Maybe he shouldn’t have pushed for this, maybe he should have gone without saying goodbye. Already Nathaniel could feel the ache of their loss. He’d allowed this group of misfits to shove their way into his heart and now he had to give them up. Even if he knew that was always the end game, a part of him couldn’t help but feel cheated at the loss of the next few months he could have had. There was a small click as the cuff came undone. He placed his hands in his lap and looked at Andrew.

“I don’t know where to start.”

“How about when the lies started. Or can you not remember what the truth looks like anymore?”

“It wasn’t all lies,” and Nathaniel hoped he understood the weight of that statement. That he knew those quite nights on the rooftop were real. That he knew he’d been more honest with him then he ever was with himself.

Nathaniel thought over what to say and when he settled, began to tell Andrew his story. He told him- and by proxy the rest of the foxes- how he came to be at Palmetto and after that what happened in Baltimore. He kept his gaze on Andrew, needing him more than anyone else to know this, know him. Then he finally got to Nathan’s death and his gaze drifted to his hands.

“So once I’m discharged I’ll be taken in for questioning and to sign my witness protection papers.”

“No.”

“No?” Nathaniel asked, unsure of what Andrew was denying.

“You aren’t going anywhere. You’re staying with us.”

He tamped down the warmth in his chest. “It’s not safe, for any of you.”

“When has it ever been safe? You aren’t going.”

“Andrew-“

“You gave me a year.” Andrew spit out viciously.

They both knew that deal was off, Nathaniel had made sure of that before he was taken, and yet all he wanted to do was concede to it. He wanted to take the easy out and go back with his team to the life he had built for himself.

“This isn’t just Riko we’re dealing with. It’s the Yakuza, my father’s people, his enemies. Not to mention the shit storm of press this will bring down,” he glanced up and looked at each fox in the eye. “None of you will have any rest from it. There will be cameras in your face, and suspicious shadows in the corner of your eye. The people you care about, they’ll have to be on guard too. I’m not worth it.” There was a beat of quiet and then the room exploded in exclamations.

“The hell you aren’t!” Matt yelled.

“We’re a team, we’ve had your back all year we aren’t stopping now.” Dan stated with finality.

“Don’t be such a-“Allison started but was cut off by Nicky’s “You can’t leave us! We’re family! Andrew you can’t let-“

“You cannot leave. We have a game in 2 weeks. Without you we’d get disqualified for the rest of the season.” Kevin added.

“You can’t be serious? You’re unbelievable!” Nicky exclaimed. He and Kevin started arguing as Renee drifted closer to him.

She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, “I promise, I will keep them safe like I have been all year.” She smiled in that soft, small way of hers and added, “We can’t trust anyone else to take care of you.”

Nathaniel’s throat seized up. The argument at the foot of his bed had escalated to include the other foxes, Kevin being ganged up on by Nicky, Dan and Matt. Aaron looking put upon as usual except for the tension in his shoulders and the unreadable looks he kept tossing towards Andrew’s back. Allison seem to be arguing for both sides or attempting in her own way to break it up. He let their voices wash over him, let the ache in his chest grow. They still wanted him, even after the entire truth of his past and future was laid out.

“You’re a fox, Neil. You know full well we don’t scare easy.” Wymack stated.

“We’re always going to be here to patch you up.” Abby added in a near whisper, hand softly brushing his hair to the side.

It was too much. It was all the things he never let himself hope for. He wanted this, he wanted to make the life he created real. He wanted to make Neil Josten real. He was on the edge of indecision, trying to hold himself to the smartest plan. Leaving meant a fresh start, a new name and a new place, it was being alone again. But it also meant his friends would be safe. He felt two fingers slip into the collar of his hospital robe and press painfully to the center of his throat. He looked up into Andrew’s unwavering stare. This, more than anything else, he wanted to able to keep.

“I told Neil to stay.”

He knew it wasn’t that simple but it didn’t matter, he wanted it to be so he let it.

“Okay. We better get Browning in here to break the news to him.”

Forty five minutes and several empty threats, handcuffs and broken furniture later, Nathaniel and Andrew were on their way to the police station. Hr thought back on his last car ride into Baltimore, thought about wishing Neil Josten goodbye. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, a first breath, welcoming him back home.

**Author's Note:**

> this was my first ever fic request! I was so shocked about it tbh. I had originally planned on dragging this out more but you know, those foxes really love Neil and they were not going to give me any wiggle room. *shrugs* Thank you for taking the time to read this :)


End file.
